The Truth Beneath The Aristocrat
by TrueWielderofTessaiga
Summary: The rose is beautiful yet terrifying. Lined with it's many thorns, it blossomed with the color of Blood...


**Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha. Enough said.**

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Song lyrics: Truth Beneath the Rose- Within Temptation

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[ A Tale of Blood ]- The Truth Beneath The Aristocrat

The child knew nothing of a blissful life. Looked down upon by his half blood heritage, with a great demon for his father and a mortal woman for his mother, the child had endured all sorts of abuse from the humans in the castle left behind by his deceased father. His only beacons of light in that suffocating darkness of his life, was his doting mother... and his older half brother.

_The child had never known true darkness ..._

What seemed like an arduous life was smoothened by the presence of his older brother. His mother, having been sickly, spent most of her days resting in bed. The child was well looked after by his brother. A seemingly everlasting presence that provided him all the love and warmth he had ever needed in his life.

_He was his pillar of strength... His pillar of hope..._

Alas, such happy times are not to last, and the time came when the end crept nearer. The child woke up one day to find his beloved brother gone. Alone with no one but his mother, he waited faithfully for his return. A long time passed. Harsh times befell him and tragedy fell, robbing away the one last person he held dearest to. Left to stand alone to fend for himself, the child left the castle, beginning his attempts to track down his long lost brother. Tales of terror were accompanied with the mentioning of the name. A demon of exquisite beauty, leaving a trail of bloodshed with him in his wake. A beautiful yet terrifying entity. Unwilling to believe such atrocity, the young and naive child continued his search for his brother.

_All evidence pointed to the worse... Yet he continued to trust in himself. He never knew._

Amidst his search, the child, now grown up; came across a woman seemed to be one to hold the answers to his questions. A priestess she was, formidable and with a commanding presence. What drew the child to the woman was her scent. The familiar scent that accompanied hers. He demanded much of her. She left without answering his questions, but with a vital piece of information. Heeding the woman's words, the child left in that direction with an unexplainable fear forming deep inside.

_Follow this path to the end of this land... You will find what you seek there._

He found himself before a castle of one of the finest lords of the area. Detecting a harsh tang of metal in the air, the child ran into the area, the same feeling now intensified by the moment. Standing in the middle of what looked like a battlefield, mutilated bodies strewn everywhere. As given, the sole culprit of the devastation wrecked, was the one man whom he had longed to see all this years.

_You are…_

Desolation crashing down on him, the child stared out at the remnants of the battle, fighting down the revulsion at the macabre. His fears had been realized. His brother had been responsible for this scene of destruction.

What could be the reason?

_I trusted you..._

The child looked up into the eyes of his brother, his gaze a silent plea for explanation. His brother did not budge, returning the child's gaze with his own, frozen ambers hard as flint.

_There is nothing but death I see..._

Rage and betrayal crashing down upon him, the child drew his sword, rushing out blindly at the man, wanting to cut him up into as many pieces as the fragments of his heart, left behind as the final memento. All this time, he had clung on to the belief that the rumors were untrue. That they were blatant lies. That they were mad tales spun up by the breaking mind of a delusional man. He was wrong.

_There is no mercy I see…_

His brother met his charge head along. He was easily overpowered by the full blooded was left for dead, bleeding his life's worth into the ground beneath. He stared up into the eyes of the one he called family; even more.

_Just anger I find…_

The child lost his faith in humanity that very night, as he lay on the cold, blood soaked ground at his time of dying. He was found by a young girl, who nursed him back to health. Consumed with hatred and rage at the world and himself for his condition, the child felt himself changing. The strength of his turmoil caused his inner demon blood to rise. He set out on his quest to search. Again, but for a different reason. He searched now for a way to satisfy the hunger for revenge.

_I have lost my faith. Now.. Darkness has taken over me._

Strengthened by his demon blood and resolve, the child managed to locate his brother and his priestess. He retaliated viciously, leaving the mortal woman bleeding her life away. The child stared down at her. Such a delicious irony. For he was no longer the weak one. Now, she took her place.

_Now you will see... This is the darker side of me._

A furious battle elapsed between blood. It was a violent battle. Both brothers were wounded in more places than anyone could imagined. Blood billowed and spilled into the air as the battle raged on, with neither brother faltering. Deep gashes lined their bodies as they continued to clash swords and claws with not the slightest hint of exhaustion.

The child was straining. The human blood running in his veins limiting him to certain abilities. A slight falter in his steps, and the battle was over. The child looked up at his brother, towering over his form with the point of his sword pointed at his face. Crimson optics widening with fear, his body ragged with heavy, painful gasps. This was the end, and he knew it. All this while, resentment burned within him. He waited for the fall.

_Is this my sin? Where could justice be?_

It never came. The child looked up in surprise. His brother remained at his spot, his eyes narrowed. He seemed unusually tensed. His brother had hesitated. This was his chance.

_And you froze in your moment of need... Now it's my time._

With a roar of triumph, the child lunged forward with his remaining strength, driving the blade of his sword deep into his brother's body. As his brother's sword fell to the ground with a clatter, the child rose to his feet to stand over his brother's defeated form, letting out a volley of maniacal laughter at his impending victory.

_And my time of win..._

Faint movement from the side snapped him back to reality.

_I believe it would justify the means…_

The child turned around, finding himself face to face with the woman whom his brother held dear to. The woman whom he had became besotted to, while abandoning his own younger brother just to be with her. Left alone in the dark just because of her. Left to a life of eternal damnation just because of this damn woman.

_It had a hold over me…_

The woman closed her eyes, her head slumping forward to land in the pool of blood that surrounded her broken figure, and she lay there still.

_All that had been stolen from me... I had never known true pain._

He woke up then. It was as if a lightning bolt had struck down from the sky and straight into his very soul, shattering it from the realm he had created and back to the waking world. The child looked down at his bloodstained claws, stained with the life blood of his very own brother. He looked back to his brother, who lay motionless in his pool of blood. The child gripped at his head, as he let out a scream of despair.

_Blinded to see the truth..._

What had he done? He had destroyed everything he believed in. Maimed them to something unrecognizable. The child looked down at the gleaming blade of his brother's, now laying abandoned in the dirt.

_All my virtues sacrificed, can Heaven be so cruel?_

He saw a stranger. He did not know who. He reached out with trembling claws, watching with trepidation as the stranger reached back. Sorrow and regret welled up within him, pushing against the barrier he had created, as he turned towards his brother.

_Now that I know... The darkest side of me..._

The barricade slowly weakened. It was unable to hold. It had lost it's strength. His emotions broke through in a form of bitter tears.

_Forgive me my sins..._

No longer able to hold himself up, he fell to his knees. The blood soaked into his own robes, as he threw his head back. The moon drifted back into the shadows, casting the entire place to darkness, as an agonized howl ripped; long and deep into the night.

_I'm hoping, I'm praying_

_I won't get lost between two worlds_

_For all I have seen the truth lies in between_

_For all I know... The beast lies within me..._


End file.
